Thomas Walsh

Who was Thomas Walsh?

Thomas Francis Walsh was an Irish-American miner who discovered one of the largest gold mines in America. He was also famous for giving the famed Hope Diamond to his daughter Evalyn Walsh McLean as a wedding present.

He was probably born on his father's farm, Baptist Grange, in Lisronagh, Tipperary, Ireland and was the son of Michael Walsh, a farmer, and Bridget Scully. According to his daughter's book, Father Struck It Rich he was apprenticed to a millwright at age twelve and soon became a fine carpenter.

In 1869, he emigrated to the United States with his sister, Maria, after the death of his father. For a time, he settled in Worcester, Massachusetts, with his aunts, Catherine and Bridget Walsh Power, who helped "shake the greenhorn off him".

Around 1870 or 71, he heeded the call to "go west young man" and soon found himself in Colorado getting paid top dollar for those scarce carpentry skills he allegedly learned from his appenticeship "to a millwright". During the 1870s, the Black Hills of South Dakota saw a gold rush that attracted hoards of hopeful men afflicted with gold fever. At first Walsh was attracted too but not to the gold.